Lloyd Burr
AUCKLAND (Television 3 News / Pacific Media Watch): The Press Gallery at Parliament is calling a 10-day ban of New Zealand Herald journalists “extraordinary” and says it sets an “extremely concerning precedent”.
Ten Herald journalists accredited to the gallery will be barred from Parliament for 10 days after their website published an image of a man who tried to leap from the public gallery into the debating chamber.
The image was taken without the Speaker’s permission by Herald political editor Audrey Young who was sitting at the press bench at the time. She took the photo with her mobile phone and it was published later that day.
Standing Orders, which are the rules in Parliament, forbid images being taken in the public gallery – a rule which aims to discourage protests.
The man was shouting about the plight of beneficiaries and was restrained by security staff during his attempt at leaping over the barrier.
Speaker Lockwood Smith has now banned all Herald reporters from Parliament because of the photo, saying the breach is “of a nature that cannot go unsanctioned if the openness of our parliamentary system is to be preserved”.
The ban has infuriated political media, with Press Gallery chairperson Jane Patterson saying the move is “extraordinary” and sets an “extremely concerning precedent”.
'Unfair, disproportionate'
“Reporters are individually accredited and take responsibility for their own actions, but to suspend a whole office on the basis of one person’s actions is unfair and disproportionate.”
She says the ban will affect the “critical role [of the media] in the democratic process” and deprives the paper’s readership in the lead-up to this year’s election.
The Engineering, Print and Manufacturing Union (EPMU), which represents journalists, has also joined in on the fight, calling the Speaker’s ban “heavy-handed” and an “over-reaction”.
EPMU print and media council chair Brent Edwards says the ban will have a “chilling effect on political journalism” and is calling on the Speaker to reconsider the decision.
Dominion Post editor Bernadette Courtney, who competes with the Herald, says she will make a complaint to the Speaker.
“It's an outrageous attack on the freedom of the press, it was a news event and the public had the right to see what was happening - you can't sanitise news.
“News organisations know they must obey the rules of Parliament, and breaches are few and far between.
"This was a news event, and news decisions should be made by editors - not politicians,” she says.
The Herald staff have been ordered to hand in their Press Gallery accreditation on Monday.
They will be allowed to return on October 20.
Pacific Media Watch
